The Embassy of the Philippines in Qatar has urged the Filipinos to report any violations of exit poll results.

The Embassy asked individuals or parties to report the premature announcement of exit poll results and in a Facebook post reiterated the prohibition by the Commission on Elections (Comelec). The premature announcement of exit poll results of the 2022 national and local elections is a grave violation of Philippine election laws, it reminded.

Earlier, after several posts on social media on exit polls, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez took to Twitter and said, “As a general rule, unless the entity that came out with the exit poll is a known and reputable survey firm, it is not reliable. It is easy to create official-looking forms or graphics that seem legitimate on social media.”

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The overseas voting ballots will only be counted on May 9 and under the Fair Election Act the result of exit polls may be announced after voting ends.

“With respect to the violation of election laws, such as the publication of exit polls, propagation of false and alarming reports or information, circulation of false orders during the conduct of overseas voting, and other similar activities, the Comelec has requested the Department of Foreign Affairs to gather reports from the Embassies/Consulates on election offenses committed and to include information in their reports to determine whether cases can be filed against the erring individual,” the Embassy said.

The Embassy has sought the details of the name of the offending party; name of his/her organisation, political party, party-list group, or candidate in case of poll watchers, as well as observers, media entities, or civil society partners; description of the acts or omissions complained of; the date of commission of the offenses; and sworn statement of affidavit of witness.

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The Philippine overseas voting in the country started on April 10 and will continue until May 9, marking the Election Day in the Philippines. The embassy is open for voting purposes from 7am to 4pm daily.

Voters are advised to bring either a copy of Philippine passport or Qatar ID to be allowed to vote. They may only vote for president, vice-president, 12 senators and a party list group.